The present invention relates to an information playback apparatus for playing back audio information, such as music and voices, while applying effects processing to generate sound effects.
The present application claims priority from Japanese Application No. 2001-52228, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference for all purposes.
There has been known a performance technique for performing effects processing to impart various sound effects to a playback sound, according to which a rotational direction and a rotational speed of an analog record, such as an LP record, being played by an analog record player are changed forcefully by applying a load by hand onto the turntable on which the analog record is placed.
For example, as a sight seen in a discotheque or the like, a performer called a disc jockey imparts various sound effects to a playback sound played back from an analog record by performing manipulations, such as turning the turntable forcefully in the forward direction or in the reverse direction at speeds different from the original number of revolutions, and further stopping the turning turntable forcefully or turning the turntable at rest.
Incidentally, storage media adopting the digital recording method, such as a CD (Compact Disc) and a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc), become popular with the development of the digital technique, and there has been an increasing need for a technique which allows the user to perform the effects processing with these storage media in much the same way a conventional analog record is manipulated.
However, because information is played back from the storage media, such as a CD or a DVD, with a special digital technique which cannot be perceived by a human sense, there is a problem, for example, that the effects processing cannot be performed as desired (by manipulating a CD being played by a CD player) as an analog record in the same manner.
The present invention was devised to solve the conventional problems, and therefore, has an object to provide an information playback apparatus for achieving the effects processing with a storage medium having recorded information digitally, such as a CD and a DVD, in the same way as an analog record is manipulated. Also, the present invention has another object to provide an information playback apparatus which allows the user to feel as if he/she were imparting sound effects to a playback sound played back from an analog record in response to the movement of the turntable provided in an analog record player.
In order to achieve the above and other objects, an information playback apparatus of the present invention is an information playback apparatus for producing a playback sound to which sound effects are imparted by applying an editing process to audio information fed from a source, including: detecting device for detecting an absence or a presence of a physical touch or a pressing pressure on a manipulation unit and outputting a detection signal; and editing device for changing a tempo of the playback sound in response to a level of the detection signal outputted from the detecting device.
According to the information playback apparatus arranged as above, when the manipulator of the information playback apparatus touches or keeps out of touch, or presses the manipulation unit, the detecting device detects the absence or presence of physical touch or a pressing pressure on the manipulation unit and outputs a detection signal. Then, the editing device changes a tempo of a playback sound in response to the level of the detection signal when it produces the playback sound from the audio information.
Consequently, it is possible to generate the same sound effects obtained when the manipulator turns the turntable of an analog record player at the varying number of revolutions by applying a pressing pressure or the like on the turntable or by touching the turntable, stops the turning turntable by applying a pressing pressure or the like, allows the turntable (forcefully stopped by a pressing pressure or the like applied thereon) to resume turning by releasing the pressing pressure or the like, etc.
Also, because the tempo of the playback sound changes in response to a pressing pressure or the like acting on the manipulation unit, the manipulator can generate sound effects as if he/she were pressing the turntable of the analog record player, etc.
The editing device changes the tempo of the playback sound in response to the increasing or decreasing level of the detection signal.
According to the information playback apparatus described above, the tempo of the playback sound changes when the pressing pressure or the like applied onto the manipulation unit increases or decreases. Consequently, it is possible to generate the same sound effects produced when the manipulator moves his/her hand off the stopped turntable, or stops the turning turntable by hand. The information playback apparatus further includes adjusting device for adjusting a quantity of change when the tempo of the playback sound is changed in response to the level of the detection signal.
According to the information playback apparatus described above, the correspondence between the tempo of the playback sound and a pressing pressure or the like is adjusted. Consequently, for example, even when the same pressing pressure is applied to the manipulation unit, it is possible to change the tempo of the playback sound by pre-adjusting a quantity of change with the adjusting device. Also, by pre-adjusting a quantity of change with the adjusting device, it is possible to generate the same sound effects produced when the manipulator changes the movement of the turntable by moving his/her hand off the stopped turntable, or when the manipulator changes the movement of the turntable by stopping the turning turntable by hand.
Hence, it is possible to provide desired versatility in generating various sound effects by adjusting a quantity of change with the adjusting device as has been described.
The editing device stops producing the playback sound when the level of the detection signal has increased to exceed a predetermined value.
According to the information playback apparatus arranged as above, it is possible to generate the same sound effects produced when the manipulator stops the turning turntable by hand in such a manner that the number of revolutions of the turntable decreases gradually to stop the turntable eventually until a playback sound is no longer played.
The detecting device is provided to a rotatable rotary body for detecting a pressing pressure applied onto the rotary body.
According to the information playback apparatus arranged as above, when the manipulator presses the rotary body, he/she can feel as if he/she were pressing the turntable of the analog record player.